Our first pleasant surprise of the festival is that the dorms have wireless. This means we can blog from the dorm before and after travelling out the grounds each day. Soon, we’re packed up and it’s time to drive out to the farm. Cornerstone doesn’t officially begin until tommorrow, but after a hiatus of a couple of years, Tooth N’ Nail Records once again hosts a “pre-fest” day. Tooth N’ Nail Day is a great way to ease into the festival.
To their credit, the label has done a pretty good job of establishing a standard of quality for their bands. You may not like their taste, but almost every Tooth N’ Nail band at sounds pretty good. Also, as is the custom with Tooth N’ Nail Day, the schedule is rarely correct. Some band’s van breaks down, someone miss their slot. Something happens and the whole schedule is thrown out of whack and this year is no different. Fortunately, we are able to get a modified schedule and figure out who we are seeing.
The first band out of the gate is The Honour Recital, playing straight up rock. Steve apparently knows some of the band members and tells us that they were disapointed with their show, but I never would’ve known. For the first band on the first day, they were pretty good. My prediction for this year is that the melodic rock bands will continue to multiply while the droning grunge bands are falling out of favor. (With the exception of the proliferation of double kick drum, screaming, growling hard core bands that are everywhere, and I mean everywhere.) The band continues the trend. Pilot For Kite also features a melodic pop with some punk influences. So far, we are off to a good start.
A totally glam rock-gothic rock band, The Becoming plays next complete with eyeliner and such. A three piece punk band featuring a woman on bass guitar called Children 18:3 plays after that. Following the early day shows it’s time for lunch.
On the way to the Encore Stage, I stop to take some pictures of a generator band called All The Day Holiday. One of the things about the chaotic nature of Cornerstone is that many campers bring generators and set up their own stages next to road and play bringing about the term “generator bands.” You never know what you’re going to get from the unpredictable, unheard of, and unsigned bands. You might be seeing the next big thing, or just four kids ham-handedly slinging guitars and screaming into the microphones. That’s part of the unpredictable nature of Cornerstone.
Meanwhile, on the Encore 2 stage, Jonzetta plays a lively and exciting set of music reminescent of The Killers and Franz Ferdinand, but with a harder edge. The Fold plays next with more melodic rock, though not quite as exciting as the previous bands. Run Kid Run plays next but I have to admit that at this point the bands all starting blurring together for me, so we take a dinner break for some BBQ and a visit to the web trailer to get my blog account set up.
The night session started out with Showbread We had seen t-shirts all day that said, “If you don’t like Showbread, then you are an idiot.” Well….I guess I’m an idiot then. While they were entertaining to watch, I don’t go for the screaming bands. We then hop over to the other Encore tent where Dead Poetic plays. They were pretty good, but I was expecting something a little different from the tracks I heard before their show, so I was left a little disapointed.
“Yeah, it’s just not Cornerstone unless you’re sittin’ in a tent after a hard core show listening to country music on the PA when Batman walks by.” – Jerry
Mewithoutyou peforms next and tent is packed out, but I have to confess that I don’t get it. Seems like the songs would better if the singer, you know, sang the songs. Or least followed the meter of the song. I know I’m not asking too much. At least they didn’t anger me as much as Jerry. “I want to punch the singer in the neck after that show.” The last band of the night is the Canadian punk-pop band Hawk Nelson and they are clearly the most polished band of the day. Their fanbase appears to be sixteen year old girls…. and us.
I finish the night off by visiting David at the Dance Barn for their night of worship music. It was actually pretty cool. They had an artsy cross made out of televisions that each contained a section of Jesus on the cross. The barn also had a wooden cross where people could write their sins on a piece of paper and nail it to the cross and they served communion. I was inspired by all of it. A good way to finish off the day because tommorrow the fest really begins.